GAYA: In what promises to be a big murder mystery, five girls, all of them first cousins or siblings, were killed in separate rooms of their house in Sonath village under the Khijarsarai police station area in Bihar’s Gaya district as the other members of the 20-strong joint family were away for reasons shrouded in mystery.
The six male children of the family of three brothers survived as they chose to spend the fateful night with neighbours and relatives at their houses. Nobody either heard anything or saw anything before the five girls were found dead in their rooms early Thursday morning.
The deceased were identified as Sweety (15) and Reshmi (13), daughters of Gulshan Singh, Juli (3), daughter of Bharat Bhushan Singh and Amisha (18) and Manisha (12), daughters of Bipin Singh. The Singhs are small farmers.
According to Gaya SSP Nishant Tiwari, it prima facie appeared fatal blows were delivered on the head of all the victims with a hard and blunt substance. The family handed over one used cartridge to the police, alleging firearms were also used.
The SSP conceded it was a complicated case and too many questions, including the entry of the killers, remained unanswered as no evidence of forced entry into the house was found when the police reached the place of occurrence. An SIT (special investigation team) has been constituted to probe the killings, he said.
Another important question pertained to the whereabouts of the other members of the family when the incident took place. Bharat Bhushan, father of one of the victims, told the police the adult members of the family had left the village for the treatment of his ailing mother while the male children left the house to spend the night elsewhere in the village “out of fear”. Asked about the fear aspect, he told the police his family was involved in a land dispute with a distantly related family of the village.
The two families are involved in protracted litigation over a 43-decimal plot of agricultural land in the village.
Patna-based forensic experts have been requisitioned to assist the SIT headed by ASP Ashok Kumar, the SSP said. The other members of the SIT are DSP (town) Sonu Kumar, Bathani DSP Ali Ansari, Delha SHO Nikhil Kumar, Rampur SHO Madhusudan Kumar, Chandauti SHO Rajiv Ranjan, Mahila police station SHO Kunti Kumari, Khijarsarai SHO Qayum Ansari and SI Pankaj Singh.
According to SIT chief Kumar, seven persons have been named as accused in the case. One of them, Anand Kumar Singh, has been arrested. He has told the police the girls were killed by their own family members.
